


The Mindscape Lord

by Birdman



Category: Gravity Falls, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: AU, Bill is an utter shit, Dipper is really sarcastic, Gen, Multi, Pacifica is moody and sad, Sloooow burn, Typical loz violence, and passes out a lot, but when is he not, dipper is tired of everyone's shit, mabel flirts with the wrong people, triforce canon is ignored, waddles is a pink horse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-04-14 19:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4577175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birdman/pseuds/Birdman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper and Mabel Pines take on their Grunkles job of going off to the castle. But as they begin their journey, all hell breaks loose. Quite literally. Thrust into the Mindscape, separated from his sister, and stuck in a body with no fingers, Dipper may have to rely on the rude and annoying glowing triangle to find his sister and restore light to the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Preparations

**Author's Note:**

> I am truly sorry that I left this lone for a year. Most of it was because I hadn't gotten a laptop until recently, and part of it was because I was uninspired and didn't want to write. Now, though, I am, and will hopefully be able t post updates fairly regularly, but I can't make any promises there. But I will finish this fic, no doubts there.

Mabel and Dipper Pines walked behind their great uncle Stanley as he led them down to the springs away from the town. When the clear natural spring was in view the twins broke off from their grunkle. Mabel ran off and started splashing around in the water and eventually got Dipper wet. Joining in indignation, he and his sister played in the springs until the sun made its way to the edge of the world.

"Hey kids! Come here for a second, I need to speak with you." Stan called.  
Padding over the two twins say down next to him.

"What's up Grunkle Stan?" Mabel giggled.

"Well, you know how I sometimes have to go to the Northwest castle far in Hyrule?" He asked. Without even pausing to think Dipper nodded. "Yeah, when you’re asked to bring weapons and stuff to people who need them? Of course we know about that!"

"Well of course YOU know you big nerd!" Mabel smirked.

Ignoring Dippers cry of 'hey!', Stan nodded and said, "Yeah yeah, that. Well, recently I have gotten a request from the king himself! He needs help for some ghost problems, but the issue here is that on my last trip, as you know, I broke my arm." Here Stanley waved his arm that was in a cast and wiggles his hand. "Aaaand it doesn't help that I'm getting a little too old for such adventures...So, in place of me, I need the two of you to go. You’d need to leave in about three days. Do you think you could do that for me?"

Dipper was nearly vibrating in excitement. "Yo-you’re asking me-US-to go-ghost  
problems-castle-!"  
Mabel jumped up and whooped. "Haha yes! We'll go! Hey, maybe I can meet some handsome guards, or maybe we'll get to see the princess!"

Stan grinned and eventually they quieted down. Sitting in comfortable silence, they watched as the sun sank beneath the trees and soon the coolness of the night was with them.

"Let's head home now kids."

Making their way back to the tree house dubbed 'the mystery shack' by the other teens, Stan dropped the twins off and continued walking into the small town, fondly named 'Gravity Falls'. The twins lived outside of the town partially to make sure nothing wanders in, and partially because Dipper would always get up at the crack of dawn to wander the forests. Even though it took some encouragement to get him out of bed.

In the shack Dipper began to pack. "Should I bring 'Friendly-but-not-Ghosts and how to deal with them'?"

"Naw, I think we'll be fine bro-bro," Mabel replied from the ledge above Dipper, "but I'm bringing my wooden sword, you know, just incase there are some random gnomes along the way!"

Humming, Dipper agreed. "Ok...so should I bring-"

"Hey! Just go to bed! We can pack more in the morning silly." Mabel said tiredly. "Fine fine..." Dipper replied and climbed up. Slipping into bed, Dippers last thought was of his upcoming adventure.

 

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

"HEY KIDS! WAKE UP!" A voice called from below the shack.

Mabel, being a morning person, was immediately awake and quickly put on her clothes, then shoved a still snoring Dipper out of bed. "Get up bro-bro! It’s your week with the goats, remember?" Mabel said, poking her sleeping twin.

Grumbling, Dipper slowly put on his clothes and as he plopped on his favorite cap, Mabel was already rushing out the door. Dipper could hear voices outside, and rubbed his eyes with the hand that had one of his birthmarks on it, the birthmark he shared with his twin.

It was as strange as the constellation on his forehead, and he peered at again for the thousandth time. Three perfect triangles stood stark against his skin. The strange feeling crept up again, as it always did when he looked at it for too long, so he quickly put the offending hand down and ran outside.

Quickly with practiced ease, he slid down the ladder that lead up to the mystery shack. But, Dipper thought ruefully, practice doesn’t make perfect. As he stumbled away from the ladder Grunkle Stan steadied him with a hand.

“Yeesh kid, be careful! I still need you for free child labor, can’t have you breaking a leg yet!” His Grunkle grumbled. Flushing in annoyance Dipper dusted himself off and began walking away, towards the spring. “Don’t worry, that usually doesn’t happen. I’ll go get Waddles now.”

As he left Dipper heard Stan mumble. “These kids will be the death of me…”

When he made it to the spring, Mabel was dousing their horse off in the cool water. Waddles, the horses name, was named such because as a foal he was so chubby he waddled around. His pelt was strange, being so white it was almost pink, with brown spots decorating his coat. Even though the horse was owned by both of the twins, Waddles had a certain fondness for Mabel, probably because she always fed him treats. Dipper didn’t mind, not really being an animal person and such, but he still took care of the peculiar creature.

Mabel looked up at her brother when he cleared his throat. “There you are Dipping-sauce, what took you so long?”

Dipper rolled his eyes and walked over to the two, patting Waddles’ nose when the creature bumped him. “Unlike you, I don’t naturally wake up instantly. I have to have time to-”

“-to wake up your brain, yeah I know, but the rest of us aren’t big nerds so we don’t have to do that.” Mabel cut him off. The male twin splashed her leg in retribution. She stuck her tongue out at him and continued brushing her horse.

“...I can’t believe we’re going to a castle.” His sister murmured.

“We’ll finally be able to see the land, solve mysteries.” Dipper answered.

With a final brush stroke Mabel patted Waddles and turned to her twin. “Good luck with the goats, try to not be too heartbroken over not being able to beat my score!” Dipper smiled at her and pulled himself on top of the horse. “I’ll try not to.”

With a final backwards glance, Dipper cantered into town and headed over to the ranch owned by his Grunkle Stan. On the way he waved to the people of Gravity Falls. He walked by different buildings and passed the forgery where Wendy's father, Manly Dan, was pounding away on what looked like a sword. Eventually he made it to the ranch. Getting off Waddles, he headed over to his Grunkle.

"Alright kid, work your magic. The stupid goats won't listen to me today!" Stan called from his spot under a tree, where he was relaxing.

"Hmm, I wonder if it's because you yell at them or if it's just your charming demeanor." Dipper said under his breath, and then in a louder voice, replied to him. "Sure thing Grunkle Stan!"

Walking over to a patch of weeds, Dipper plucked one and blew on it, producing a sweet tune. Across the ranch, Waddle started charging to the teen. When the horse neared, Dipper reached up for his bridle and patted his nose.  
"Hey there bud, how you doin?"

The horse snuffled at his hair, and then shook his mane when the boy hopped up on his saddle. Wheeling Waddles around, Dipper started to round up the goats. It took him a few minutes, and one goat, fondly named Gompers, gave him the most trouble, but eventually he finished.

"...aaaand done! WOOH!"

"Well, it wasn't your worst roundup... but it was still pathetic. Keep trying kid." Stan said, walking up to Dipper and Waddles. "And hey, I'm pretty sure one of Wendy's little brothers has something for you, might want to go check that out."

"Thanks...I'm going to go get Mabel first though."

"Whatever."

Dipper rode Waddles to the mystery shack and left him at a post in front of the tree. There was a group of teens waiting for him, and a few of them startled as he pulled up. The tall red head, named Wendy, standing next to a scowling teen in a dark hoodie, waved at him.

Wendy smiled up at Dipper a said, "So a little birdie told me that you and Mabel are going to the castle tomorrow! You had better say goodby to the gang, or they'll freak."

"Haha, of course we will Wendy!" Dipper replied, smiling back.

"Yea, whatever. It's not like anybody's going to miss you two, you guys are insane." Robbie say, rolling his eyes. Robbie was shoved aside by two energetic teens, Nate and Lee.

“If you’re going on an adventure you’re going to need weapons!” Nate said. Robbie narrowed his eyes at the two of them. “Wait… is this going where I thi-”

Lee interrupted him with as much enthusiasm as his smaller friend. “Robbie’s parent’s shop has a slingshot! A slingshot!”

Robbie rolled his eyes. “Wow guys, I told you not to tell him, he’s really not worth it.”

Wendy finally interjected. “Hey, chill out dude, Dippers’ cool. If he wants the slingshot, he can get it if he wants to Robbie.”

Dipper smiled at her again before turning to Nate and Lee. “I’ll definitely check it out but, uh…have any of you seen Mabel? I want to talk to her before doing anything.”

The two teens thought it over before nodding in unison. “We saw her by the river, you should check there.”

Dipper thanked them before heading back into town. He looked around for Mabel and saw her up on a rock calling the local hawk to fly at something down the river. Bewildered, he climbed up to her and saw the hawk carrying what looked like a flannel shirt.

"Hey bro-bro." Mabel casually said as she caught the shirt.

"Mabel...what??" Dipper stared.

"Hmm? Oh, Danny said he accidentally dumped his laundry into the river, and I came up here and sure enough it was all floating into the cove! So I called the hawk to get them all, but a gnome had the last one. I had the hawk attack it."

Dipper looked at her feet and sure enough there was a pile of dripping clothes. "That's great, I guess. Oh! Hey, apparently one of Wendy’s brothers has-"

"A fishing pole for us? Yeah, that's mainly why I took the time to fish out all of these clothes. Buttering them up never hurts, eh?"

Dipper laughed in agreement, and then they both climbed off of the rock and ran over to the Corduroy house. There they saw Danny sitting on the porch with his head in his hands. When the twins ran over, he looked up and immediately jumped up and looked relieved.

"Oh thank the goddesses, my dad would have killed me!" He took the clothes and wandered inside, calling over his shoulder, "Hey, stay there a sec, I'll get Greg's fishing pole for you!"  
After a bit he came back out with a fairly decent fishing pole.

"I know it's not very good, but dad’s been getting him into the family business, so he started with this and wanted the two of you to have it!"

"Oh this is wonderful! I think it's amazing, you Corduroys are all so great at crafting!" Mabel gushed as she took the pool.

"Yeah this is great! Tell Greg we said thanks." Dipper said. With the pole in hand the twins started back to the shack when Dipper tapped Mabel’s arm.

“Hey Mabel, the gang was telling me that Robbie’s parents have a slingshot.” They had paused at the Valentino shop.  
"But do we have enough rupees for it?"

"Eh, let's just look."

When they walked inside, they saw Mrs. Valentino moping on the counter.

"Hey...are you alright?" Mabel started, worried.

Mrs. Valentino sniffed and started to wail. "My sweet little baby...my poochikins!!! He ran away and he won't even c-come baaack!"

Dipper and Mabel blinked at her, and then looked at each other.  
"Um...Mrs. Valentino, if you want, WE could try to find your...poochikins?" Dipper proposed.

Mabel quickly added on. “And what is your poochikins?”

The shopkeeper looked up and nodded thankfully. "Oh yes, yes thankyou! My baby is my darling cat, please find him! He’s declawed..."

Mabel smiled at her and the twins walked out. They were silent for a bit before Dipper burst out laughing.

"Poochikins?? Hah! What even-?"

Mabel frowned and swatted her twin.  
"Hey, be nice. She's worried for her... for her..."  
"...Poochikins?"  
Mabel hid a snort and hit him again. She suddenly froze and peered across him. "Hey, what's that cat doing over there? Do you think it’s Mrs. Valentino’s?"

Dipper followed her eyes and saw a fluffy brown cat peering into the river.

"Uh...maybe?" Dipper supplied.  
Mabel squealed and ran over to the poor cat who, in the face of Mabel's excitement, ran. Mabel pouted and sat down near the water. She used the newly acquired fishing rod to start fishing.

“Mabel what are you doing, the cat ran away."

The female twin huffed and started to fish. Soon she caught a small perch and put it on the ground.  
"Maybe the cat wanted a fish, so here’s a fish! He was staring at the water..." Mabel said.

Sure enough, the cat came back, took the fish, and ran over to the Valentino shop. Dipper started laughing again, and Mabel joined in at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. After getting all the laughs out of their system, the twins ran over to the shop, and inside Mrs. Valentino was petting the brown cat. Happily, she gave them a bottle of milk halfway full and let them buy the slingshot. They had to pool together their money, but they managed.

"Ohmygosh it's so cool!" Mabel squealed.

Dipper grinned in agreement and they walked back to the mystery shack. There they found Lee and Nate fighting with sticks while Wendy cheered them on.

When they saw that the twins had the slingshot, they set up the targets and told them to shoot them.

Mabel, claiming to be the alpha twin, went first.  
"Ok...just got to aim...and...pow!"

She shot the target straight in the middle, did a little dance and started shooting at the others, getting amazing results for somebody not even aiming. Finally, she handed the slingshot to Dipper, who grinned and aimed the weapon.  
Like his sister, he shot the first target perfectly. He took much longer than Mabel, taking the time to make sure he hit near the center. When he finished, everyone cheered and chattered around. They all stayed like that for a while until it started getting dark, and they turned in.

The twins finished up packing, and then excitedly started talking while they lay in bed. They made assumptions about what would happen, who they would meet, how posh the castle would be. Finally, in the late hours of the night they fell asleep.

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

When the twins woke up in the morning, Mabel went over to the village to get the last supplies for their trip.

Since Mabel was prepping for the journey, Dipper picked up a brush and started tending to Waddles, rubbing him down and checking his feet. He looked up when Lee and Nate ran over, squabbling over something.

As they got closer, Nate shoved the other and walked over to Dipper.  
"Hey Dipper, you know that sword you have? Do you think you could show us some moves with it? This loser thinks that you can't use a sword, but I know you can, being part of the mystery twin duo and all!"

Dipper furrowed his brow. “I don’t know, I did show you my slingshot skills yesterday…”

Both teens pouted, so, exasperated, Dipper went back up in the shack to retrieve the wooden sword. When he came back out Lee was punching his friend. "-man why'd you say that? You were the doubter, not me!"

Nate started hushing him as Dipper came into view.

"Ooookaaaay, well, here's the sword...anything you want me to do in particular?"

They had him do some simple moves, and were hilariously impressed when he spun around, hitting the scarecrow dummy multiple times. As he finished, the guys crowded around him, asking a hundred questions at once.

Suddenly there was a strange sound behind them. When Dipper turned there was, surprisingly, a gnome standing in the middle of the path. Dipper stood dumbfounded as the gnome looked around, and then let out a startled “Shmebulock!” as Lee ran at it, screaming about stolen pastries. Nate followed a tad slower after him, cursing the blond.

Dipper stared in disbelief before running after them. He ran past the springs, and was approaching the bridge to the Faron woods when he ran into Nate, who was puffing and clutching his abdomen.

"He...went...on..." He managed. “Avenge...me…”  
Dipper rolled his eyes and ran on after, a sarcastic, “you will be avenged,” called behind him.

Soon he passed another spring and came to a clearing and a dark cave. Shuddering, he looked around and spotted a weird looking man dancing around a fire. His face looked misshapen, with a brown mustache above his mouth. Dipper warily approached him.  
"Hello...there. Uh, do you think I could use some of your fire to go into the cave?"

The man looked up and pushed up his glasses. "Why would you want some fire when you can have a lantern?" He said in a strange whiny, halting voice.

Dipper stared at him in confusion until the man walked over and handed him a lantern.

"When you run out of oil, come back to me! The names Toby Determined!"

Backing away, Dipper muttered a quick thanks and ran to the cave. Inside was dark and damp, and there were a few bats and rats he had to take care of.

On the other side was the main part of the south Faron woods. Dipper wandered about for a few minutes, scaring away the random troll, and eventually came across a gate.  
That was locked. Cursing, the teen searched some more and came across another cave. He got the key that was inside and finally went through the gate.

There, he scared away yet another troll, distantly wondering about how many there were, and saved a weird talking bird who tried to sell him some potion. The bird vaguely reminded him of Grunkle Stan.

As he tried to get out of the deal, he’s always been bad with bargaining, he heard a scream. He ran up a ginormous tree root and found Lee and the gnome surrounded by several trolls who were trying to steal his...socks? Shaking off his confusion, Dipper kicked and sliced at the trolls until they left.

'That was...weird.' Dipper thought.

"OhThankTheGoddesessDipperYouSavedUsOhMyG-" Lee spewed out.

"Hey calm down, let’s just get you back to the village..."  
The gnome ran off, and Dipper gave one last look at the strange tree they were on. What looked like a hole in the tree was covered by a pile of rocks. He shrugged and followed Lee towards home. On the way, his tall companion was unnaturally silent.

"Hey dude...Dipper...can you, like, NOT tell Nate that I was screaming like a girl?"

Dipper looked at him. “I wasn't planning on telling him, Lee. But...I do have to ask about the gnome.”

Lee paused. He thought a moment. “Well, I think it started when I kicked over a mushroom. It must’ve been his, but I completely forgot about doing it. A couple days later, that little guy began showing up and stealing my stuff. I guess it was his way of retribution, getting back to me. Since I forgot about the mushroom, all I knew was that this little punk-ass gnome was stealing from me, and today I finally had the chance to get my revenge.”

Dipper nodded, and peered at him questioningly. “So...what happened? How'd you remember?”

“He protected me.” Lee said simply. “He couldn't do much, but he did what he could. That must have sparked my memories.”  
They walked in silence for a while.

“...don't tell Nate about that either, you hear me?”

The teen laughed and, with a smirk, nodded. Finally they reached the shack.

There, Mabel stood looking worried, and she ran to them as soon as they came up. "Dipper! Lee! I was so worried, Nate just said you ran off to the woods!"

"Mabel, we're fine..." Seeing her look of disbelief, Dipper amended. "Neither of us are going to fall over and die, and we don't have anything worse that a couple of scrapes.”

"Yeah it's alright Mabes." Lee said over his shoulder as he walked back into town.

"Well, if you insist..." She relented.

They went inside the shack. Mabel began making dinner but, exhausted, Dipper immediately laid down in bed, and fell asleep to Mabel moving around below.

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

In the morning, Dipper and Mabel had breakfast, set their bags near the door, and head out to the town with Waddles behind them. They separated, with Dipper going to the ranch for one last roundup and with Mabel going to help around with Grunkle Stan as he talked to the mayor, Tyler Cutebiker.

Out at the ranch Dipper rounded up the goats and headed back to town. He gave Waddles's reins to his twin, who started to inspect her beloved horse. Dipper turned to his Grunkle, who chuckled and pulled him in for a hug, giving him a noogie.

"Now, Dipper. Keep an eye on the road, you won't believe the amount of creeps that hang out there. Don't forget that you need sleep as well, kid. You have a habit of doing that. As for you si-"  
A loud gasp interrupted him, and they turned to see Mabel kneeling down and frowning at Waddles's leg, which had a scratch on it.

"DIPPER! What the heck, you hurt Waddles!" She turned angrily to him, and Dipper winced and quickly hid behind Stan.

"Look, sweetie, I doubt-"

"No! He let Waddles get hurt, and didn't even look to check! This is always happening, Grunkle Stan, and my poor horse has to ride with both of us on his back!"  
Mabel then stomped off with the horse, assumedly towards the spring.

"...well, you need the horse to get there fast, kid, so now’s the time to suck up to your sister if ever."

Dipper frowned and started after her about to ask why, only to be interrupted by Wendy.

"Hey, Dipper. I saw what happened, and ouch. That must've hurt. I'll come along to help you out, alright?"

"Thanks wendy." Dipper replied, relieved.

They headed to the spring only to be stopped by Lee and Nate, who peered at him before speaking. "D-man, we need your sword."

"Yeah, and we know you need to go this way because we saw Mabel storm off to the springs, so hand it over."

Huffing, Dipper looked at Wendy who glared at them but shrugged, and then gave them the sword and ran the rest of the way, Wendy in front of him. When he got there, the gate was locked and Wendy motioned to the tunnel on the side of the springs. Dipper crawled through, grumbling under his breath about all the dirt. And the day was turning out so well.

"-nd Lee said that Dipper fought them all off by himself."

"Oh..." Mabel turned and saw Dipper wiping dirt off of his vest. With tears in her eyes she spoke. "Dipper I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to push you so hard..."

He smiled at her. "It's alright Mabel, I forgive you...I know I need to be a littl-"

He broke off at the sound of heavy hoofbeats. Waddles started freaking out and the gate exploded open, letting in massive, gruff creatures riding on boar back.

Dipper tried get in front of Mabel but was hit in the back of the head with a club. He groggily watched with pain-hazed eyes as Mabel and Wendy were taken by the vile beasts.  
After sounding what sounded like a horn, they left, and Dipper snapped out of his haze. “No-Mabel!”

Bolting up, he ran across the bridge, faltering when he came upon a solid mass off golden fog. It seemed to be vibrating, and Dipper wearily inched closer to it.

Suddenly, a huge inky black hand that seemed to be dripping reached through the fog and grabbed him.

Dipper, hit with an overwhelming sense of pain, blacked out again.

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~


	2. Walking in Greyscale

When Dipper came to he immediately knew something was wrong. He didn't know exactly what, but everything felt off. He was in pain, which was never a good sign. And then he remembered.

Jolting up, he tried to call Mabel's name only to jerk back in confusion as all that came out was a animal like yelp. Only then did Dipper notice that everything was grey. And that he had paws. And that there was a chain around his foot. Paw. Whatever.

Dipper began growling, twisting and biting at the cold metal when the most annoying sound he had ever heard in his life started up behind him. Someone was laughing.  
Whirling around, Dipper could only stare in confusion at the yellow triangle that floated in front of the bars. The teen began growling at it, only for the thing to wave a four-fingered hand at him in disapproval.

"Now now kid, or should I say pup?" The thing started, and it's one eye appeared to be grinning. It's high pitch voice was vaguely masculine. "You shouldn't be growling at me! I'm your only chance of getting out of this dump!"

The boy let up, and the triangle cackled again. "That's a good boy! Here, as a treat I'll take off the chains."

It snapped its little hand and the chain broke with a flair of bright blue flames.

Yelping, Dipper jumped away from the fire, and then growled at the being again as it laughed at him.

"What did I say about growling Pine Tree?"

Dipper must have looked confused, because the triangle crinkled its eye and pointed at his back. "It looks like a pine tree!"

Dipper tried to look at his back but only saw a dark blob. Chalking it up to the thing being insane, the boy whipped his head back around as the triangle teleported outside of the jail cell.

"Hahaha! Hey kid, let's make a deal. You prove you’re not stupid and get out of that cell, which is easy by the way, and I'll tell you my name, and maybe even about where we are!"

Dipper huffed and peered around, finally spotting the soft dirt at the base of the bars. He dug under with his new-found paws and came up on the other side, looking around for the yellow menace.

He froze when he felt pressure on top of his head, but when he shook around it didn't move. He whined and stopped when the annoying being pulled on his ear.

"Listen up Pine Tree. You’re lost, in a strange place in a strange world. I'm the only hope you have, so you have to do as I say. Exactly, no questions asked, although you couldn't ask them even if you wanted to!" The triangle laughed again, and then started poking where his constellation birthmark should be.

"Now, the names Bill Cipher. Don't forget it, kid. If you want to know where we are, your going to have to trust me!" Bill giggled, as if he made a joke, and urged Dipper forward.

"Now, onward little pup!"

Dipper started forward, intent on ignoring the weight on his head, and slipped into a tunnel. There was a strange wispy glowing light ahead. Dipper cautiously approached it, and then Bill spoke up.

"Use your senses, Pine Tree. Jeez, you'd expect a guy to know how to use his body correctly!"

Dipper growled at him and perked up his ears, and using his nose to sniff the light. Concentrating, the world seemed to shift and a guard appeared.

"...Oh goddesses, please spare me! Please let this nightmare end..."

Dipper jerked back in surprise and looked back at Bill.  
"Well, who would'a thought! It's a person!"

Dipper shook his head and ran forwards, looking out for more glowing spirits. Bill proceeded to be unhelpful in giving directions, and they got lost in the sewers several times. Eventually (without Bill’s help) they made it up onto the roof of wherever they were. Up ahead was another spirit. He went up and stood in shock as he heard what the person said.

"Oh our poor Northwest castle...how will we survive this?"

Backing away, Dipper whined inquiringly, and Bill snickered.

"Well, would you look at that! We're at the castle! However could we have gotten here?" He suddenly pulled on the his ear again.

"Now, don't just stop! We have aways to go, Pine Tree. There's someone I need to check up on. You still have to trust me~!"

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

Charging across the rooftops of the castle, the teen had to fight off strange, nightmarish birds that came out of nowhere.

' _What even is this place? What normal castle has giant, wolf-eating birds??'_ Thought Dipper.

"Who said this was a normal castle Pine Tree?" The annoying triangle spoke up from on top of his head.

The teen skidded to a stop and rolled his eyes to look at Bill.

"Yes yes, I can read your mind," Bill said in annoyance, "so stop giving me those puppy eyes and get a move on! We have somewhere to be."

Shoving away any thought of Bill reading his mind, Dipper continued to a tower with the triangles urging. They got inside and went up the stairs into a medium sized room.

There was a cloaked figure standing beside a big window. Upon entering, the figure turned sharply. Dipper growled and Bill began to laugh. Abruptly, the figure took off their hood and reviled who Dipper to believed to be princess Pacifica. He stopped growling and, inching closer, tilted his head up at her. Bill floated off as his seat became vertical.

"Bill? You came back...and with a beast." The princess frowned distastefully.

"Oh, this little pup? He's harmless! Just don't mention his sweating problems or pretty girls and you’re fine!"

Dippers ears went back in embarrassment and Pacifica's eyebrows rose.

"He's human? I really don't know how or why you find these people..." The princess trailed off with a distant look, and the peered into Dipper's eyes. "I bet you have questions. So do I, but since Bill isn't ever forthcoming I can hopefully I can answer a few of yours..."

“It was a normal day for me, or as normal as it could be with ghosts in the castle.

I was in the throne room with my parents when there was an announcement that a lord was visiting.  
The man that came in was not a lord. He was short, unassuming, and wore a light cloak that covered his face.

As he walked forward, any man or women he passed seemed to fall into a trance, and soon he had the attention of everyone in the room.  
He spoke with a strange accent, and first tried to appeal to my father. He told him that he came from a place that had immeasurable power. He said that he wanted an alliance, that with Hyrule and his kingdom together, they could have infinite power. My father, horribly, started to go along with it. He asked three questions, and the lord gave three answers.

‘What is your kingdom?’ He asked first.

‘A great, distant place.’ The man replied.

‘What kind of power?’ My father asked, slowly, as if sensing danger.

‘Greater than you can imagine.” The man gave with a smirk.

‘And where would the Northwest family be in this situation?” Questioned, now with impatience.

‘Where you deserve to be.’ The man replied, his eyes flashing a dangerous green.

My father asked what the terms of the treaty would be. The lord then brought out a paper and read it off. His terms were practically slavery, hidden by grand words.  
Finally my father laughed coldly, giving his answer. He looked down at the man with disgust.  
Preston Northwest wasn’t a stupid man, but he...he wasn’t smart enough to realize that he couldn’t do anything but accept. That he would die if he didn’t.

He told the lord that he would not be bought by pretty words, that he should crawl back to his master, and that no Northwest ruler would bow to another.

The man only smiled, and then the guards all collapsed. The king, enraged and fearful, charged the man, but a wave of green energy flew at him and he disappeared in a flash of green.  
The man laughed and turned to my mother.  
‘What about you, Queen Northwest? Will you accept my terms?’

My mother screamed and ran from the man, distraught at the loss of my father. Laughing at her cowardice, the same fate awaited her as the cloaked figure struck her down.

Alone, helpless, and in shock I could only stare as this man took over my kingdom single handedly.  
The man turned to me and smiled yet again. He spoke of the triforce, and said that I was brave to stand alone against him. That I had to have strength, had to have a certain inner power to stand alone against him. If only I knew what he meant at the time, maybe I could have...no, it's no use...

He asked me to surrender, and I refused. He asked again, coming closer and closer, and slowly the world started to turn grey. I refused again, and he laughed a terrible laugh and asked how I could reject surrender if I had already lost.

I refused one last time. Nightmarish beasts appeared behind him, and he told me if I didn't surrender he would lay siege to all of Hyrule, killing all of its people...I surrendered, and there was a great flash of green. He...he somehow pulled my kingdom here, into the mindscape…I don't know how a mortal could do such a thing. I don't know if he even is mortal.”

Dipper stared silently up at the girl as she clenched her teeth.

"Hey! There's nothing you can do, blondie! That creep could’ve done a lot worse to you if he wanted to, so count yourself lucky! I mean, it's not like you died."

The girl rolled her eyes at the yellow being. "Thanks Bill, I feel so much better."

"No problem!" He replied brightly. His one eye suddenly narrowed at the princess. "But wait...aren't you forgetting something? Hmm? Like maybe WHY all of these humans are in the Mindscape?"

Pacifica huffed and glared at the triangle. "If you want him to know so badly then why don't you tell him?"

Bill flashed red and clenched his hands. "Because I don't CARE enough to, blondie. He was shoved into YOUR dungeons, on account of YOUR mess. Don't try to shove this on me. Or did you forget…?"

The princess gulped and lowered her eyes. "I...I'm sorry-” she paused and looked over at Dipper. “...hah, wow, I don't even know your name do I?"

At Bill's unblinking stare she continued.

"Well, as you undoubtedly know, all of the people in my kingdom are now spirits. Their souls were ripped from their bodies, and pulled here-"

"So they were shoved into the Mindscape...is that really a bad thing? I mean, come on! No lousy colors, everyone knows their place...it great here! And besides, it's not like all you squishy mortals need physical bodies!” Bill interrupted, but as soon as he did he turned, hiding his eye.

"Bill. You know humans and the dream realm can't stay together. It puts everything out of balance, and soon even things like you will be affected."

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

"Anyways, human souls. You'll need to-"

Dipper, who had been listening and watching the whole thing, suddenly perked up his ears, hearing footsteps coming up the stairs. He looked urgently at Pacifica, who nodded and shooed him.

"Yes, that's the guard, you have to leave...please, wolf, don't get caught. You are our only hope, ugh, however disgustingly cliche that sounds."

Bill plopped back down on Dipper's head and patted it.

"Come along now, Pine Tree, we don't want you back in prison do we? Not after all that trouble I went through to get you out!"

He ran out of the room and jumped out of the window before the guard could come up the stairs and find them. Outside, Bill floated off of Dipper’s head and turned to look at him.

"Now, just because the princess got all melodramatic and gave you an 'epic quest that’s super important' doesn't mean you can go running off to start it. I mean, you’re forgetting something right?"

At this Dipper cocked his head, and in response the triangle’s form shifted. Instead of the normal yellow coloring, pictures showed up on his surface. Pictures of Wendy, Lee, Nate, Robbie…Mabel.  
Dipper tensed and Bill cackled.

"See? You have no idea where they are or how to get to them! So, you still need my help. In return, you will have to become my puppet and do exactly as I say. No questions asked, no pesky second thoughts. Do we have a deal?"

On the last word, Bills’ aggravating voice deepened into something…demonic.

Dipper averted his eyes. He weighed his choices. He could either somehow escape the castle and get back on his own or risk playing slave to a questionable being. Finally he nodded. The glowing triangle floated back over to his head, and blue flames flickered around his form. A sharp pain started up on Dipper’s right paw, but was gone almost instantly.

"Good boy! Now, before we do anything I'm gonna need some stuff, so we're going to head back into your town now. Remember, we’re on a tight schedule!”

Before Dipper could do anything, the grayscale world melted from view.

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~


	3. The light of a Spirit

When Dipper opened his eyes again, he was in his spring. He quickly noticed that Bill wasn’t with him, and began to run forward, hope flickering at the back of his mind.

“ _What do you think you’re doing Pine Tree? Aw, did you think I wasn’t with you? Don’t worry pup, I’ll always be with you_.”

The teen abruptly froze.

“ _Yep, that’s right! I’m still here_.”

Dipper looked around, only for Bill to start laughing at him again.

“ _I’m in you’re mind pup. You won’t be able to get rid of me. It's only because of certain...circumstances that I'm unable to join you in the physical world_.”

Dipper let out a helpless growl, and Bill laughed again.

“ _Now, I need you to get a sword and shield. Ah ah ah, before you start freaking out, yes, you are going to have to steal them. Now chop chop while there is still night_.”

Dipper shook his head and stood still for a second, but when Bill stayed silent he continued on to the village. When his house was in view he saw more of those weird monsters that took Mabel from him. he vaguely heard Bill say that the creatures were bokoblins. They noticed him quickly.

Dipper left none of them alive, and as he panted over their corpses he heard a voice that, surprisingly, wasn’t Bills.

“Hey! Pst, over here!”

Dipper looked over to the mystery shack but saw nobody there. Then his eye focused on a squirrel, and exasperation poured off of him. There was no way…  
As if its life goal was to prove Dipper wrong, the squirrel spoke again.

“Thanks for getting rid of those guys! If you need any help, just ask anybody. Us animals stick together.” With a swish of its tail, the furry rodent left.

Dipper felt amusement ooze out from back of his mind.

“ _Wow Pine Tree, you successfully dumbed down enough to talk to animals_!”

The teen was about to tell him off, just remembering that, since Bill was in his mind, he could talk to him, when Bill snapped at him.

“ _Move along pup, the clock is ticking_!”

Dipper ran into town.

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

When Dipper ran into town, he momentarily forgot he was a wolf. So when Mrs. Valentino ran away from him, he was confused for about two seconds, and then quickly tried to find a hiding place.

“ _Hurry up kid, just get out there. The worst thing that could happen is that you kill somebody, so go on. Remember why we’re here? It’s to get the sword an-_ ”

Dipper suddenly jolted forward, and for a bit he ignored Bill. He had heard the sound of his Grunkle Stan cursing on the other side of the river. Running across the bridge, he stopped, remembering the reactions to his new form. He carefully crept through some grass. Dipper pricked his ears forward, and Bill thankfully stayed silent. In the clearing was the mayor, Manly Dan, and his Grunkle.  
“-f the newest sword’s at your house, Corduroy, and the shield’s here in Simpsons house, and I’m the only one who knows how to use the damned weapons, then I should have both of them.” Stan was saying in exasperation.

“I just made that sword, Pines! I’m not giving it up to you. Besides, your arm’s broken, so you can’t even wield it!”

“Listen here you plaid-shirted freak. You can’t tell me w-”

Dipper was going to listen more, intrigued by the conversation, but startled and stood up when Bill spoke.

“ _Pine Tree. You know where the stuff is now, so move_.”

At the appearance of a wolf, the men shrieked and ran, probably to get some weapons. Dipper quickly sprinted back over to the other side of the river. He was about to look around for a way to get into Simpsons house when a torch flared up, putting him in the spotlight.

“There you are, Beast.”

The teen managed to look up and see a silhouette of a man and something moving towards him when pain raced up his side as claws dipped into his flesh. As the hawk flew away, most likely to go in for another attack, Dipper quickly moved into action and ran into the shadows. He stood completely still as the hawk circled overhead a few times before going back to its temporary master.  
Bill laughed in his head.

“ _Well well well, I guess dogs can’t look up_!”

Dipper ignored him the best he could, and froze again when a cat ran up to him. It was the one he and Mabel gave a fish to...however long ago it was.

“Hey, I’m sorry that he did that,” it said, “He’s just scared for the kits, or, children as they call them...You seem like a good person. If you want, you can get up there to him by jumping onto the roof? Anyways, good luck! Please don’t kill anyone, I’d hate to be wrong about you.”

Dipper watched as it pranced away, and with a weary look to the sky walked over to the place the cat mentioned. He looked at it for a few, and decided he definitely wasn’t a cat, so he wouldn’t be able to jump up to there. He was about to leave to find another spot to get up from, when a horrible feeling went through him. Suddenly he couldn’t control his body, and he watched helplessly as his form crouched down, preparing to jump.

“ _Yeesh kid, chill. I’m taking over because you’re too wimpish to jump up there on your own_.”  
Dipper began to freak out even more, and then Bill, in his body, jumped. Into a pole.

“ _Shit, I forgot how hard it is to control four legs. Hang on, let me just…_ ”

The boy was still internally wincing from having his nose slammed into a pole, but he felt like either laughing or crying as Bill awkwardly walked in a circle. Bill started to get frustrated, probably because he sucked worse than Dipper at being a wolf.

“ _Watch it Pine Tree, I can still hear you._ ”

Finally, Bill lined up again, and with something akin to grace managed to leap clean onto the roof.

Dipper cried foul.

“ _Yeah yeah, I used a little magic. I’m not a miracle worker, so buzz off._ ”

Slightly smug, Dipper stalked over to the man who was still trying to search him out. With a small, careful leap, Dipper landed on the same rock formation as the man, who turned out to be Mr. Valentino. The teen felt a little guilty for scaring him, but only a smidgen. The guy did try to kill him and all.  
As the poor man splashed into the river, Dipper was faced with another big jump. Thankfully Bill understood, and with some exasperation he took over again. When they landed in the house, the shield they wanted was hanging on a wall on a ledge. Dipper managed to jump up to it; he ignored the amusement that leaked from Bill. Finally Dipper got the shield. He looked down at it in bemusement. It was...wooden. And small.

“ _Wow, it looks like a piece of crap_.”

‘ _Shut up Bill_ ,’ Dipper thought.

“ _Ooh, someone's prideful. What, did you make it? Did your girlfriend make it?_ ”

Dipper ignored him again and nosed the shield. Carefully, he slipped it onto his shoulder. The teen shook his head and then jumped out an open window. What he didn't realize, though, was that the river was beneath that window. At the great splash that sounded as he landed, Dipper winced.

“ _Welp, there goes subtilty. You might have to actually kill someone now, how fun.”_

Running along the river’s side, Dipper wearily watched as torches flared up and quickly made his way over to the Corduroy house. The door was most likely locked, but he wouldn’t have been able to open the door even if wasn’t. He sniffed around before remembering something. Sure enough, on the side of the house there was a hole from some rats that had gotten in a few weeks ago, and it hadn’t been patched up yet. When he crawled through the house was silent. Where there would usually be a gaggle of rambunctious boys was empty space. It seemed as though the monsters really did take all of the children.

“ _Bokoblins, Pine Tree, bokoblins_.”

‘ _I really don’t care, Bill_ ,’ Dipper thought. Looking around, he saw a rack of miscellaneous weapons. There were only three swords, and one of them was another wooden sword.

“ _Get the big one, it’s shinier._ ”

Since the bigger sword was twice the length of his body, Dipper got the smaller, more manageable sword. That, too, he put onto his back and slipped out of the house.

“ _Well, you’re complete shit at listening, I’ll work on that later. We need to be going. The sun’s coming up, and we have places to be_.”

Nodding his head, the boy padded along the path out of the town. The sky was slowly gaining a pinkish hue. Just as he was about to leave the town, he heard a shout from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Stan running after him, sword in his unbroken hand. Dipper stopped, getting one last look at his great uncle before sprinting away. Out of the town. Past his home. Past the spring.

“ ** _...Wait…_** ”

Dipper whipped his head around at the voice. It came from the spring…

“ _ **...Please...Come towards the spring…**_ ”

‘ _Because that doesn’t sound shady_ ,’ Dipper thought to his companion, but Bill was silent.

With trepidation the teen walked into the spring. He padded into the cove and a beautiful glowing orb stood out against the brightening sky. When Dipper took another step closer, into the water, a vibrant teal wall surrounded him. A black, gooey, dripping thing appeared seemingly out of thin air. Almost instantly Dippers vision went red, and he felt an overwhelming hatred from Bill. As quickly as it came on it was gone, Bills presence pulling away from his mind.

The boy was about to question him when a large hand knocked him down. The monster was attacking him, and Dipper berated himself for forgetting about it. He quickly took down the dripping beast. As soon as its body melted away, the light came back. It began to take the form of a goat. And as beautiful as the spirit was, Dipper laughed in his head because really. A goat.

“ _ **Peace, twin-souled child of the forest…**_ ”

“ ** _I am  Ordona. My brethren and I are the four spirits of light that guard this realm. For years we protected, a shield against the darkness...until the man, a practitioner of dark magic came. This man’s name is Gideon._** ”

Another swell of anger, but softer this time. Dipper sent a questioning thought and was ignored again.

“ _ **He has stolen the light from my brothers, and almost stole my own. The beast you just slain was from the nightmare realm, a place with no light, no laws...thank you, child, for saving me. I now must ask of you to do the same for the others, for if you do not, your world will forever be locked in the halfway point of the mindscape**_.”

Dipper blinked up at the spirit. How could he save them as a wolf?  
As if sensing his thoughts, the golden light pulsed.

“ _ **Yes...you will need to be restored to your true form...I cannot perform your need. You must go to the place you first transformed in.**_ ”

Dipper nodded at the form, accepting its initial wish. The spirit shimmered a few seconds longer before fading from view. The teen stared at the spot it occupied for a while longer before turning around and padding towards the bridge.

There was still no noise from Bill until he reached the other side.

" _Gideon...that’s an old name. I made a deal with him thirty years ago...stuck up brat. I’m not surprised that he has a hand in this, but he would need-...hmm."_

Dipper waited, but the triangle stayed silent. With a ‘shrug’ (disregarding the fact he couldn’t shrug) he walked up to the fog wall.

" _It_ _’s not fog, idiot, it’s magic. If you want to get through and not become a useless spirit I’d suggest you shut up about fog and start sucking up to me."_

‘ _What? Why would I want to do that, I got through well enough last time_.’ Dipper thought.

 _"WRONG. A creature from the other side has to let you in, or in that case drag your unwilling carcass through it_."

Dipper shuffled a bit, and waited for what seemed like half an hour before rolling his eyes. ‘ _Okay Bill, fine, whatever. Please oh merciful golden chip, I am in need of your glorious, all-knowing help_.’

" _Yeesh kid, you could kill a man with all that salt."_  Finally Bill seemingly moved, as Dipper could feel him exit his thoughts. A shadow moved along the floor, and once it reached the fog a huge black hand reached through and roughly picked him up. On the other side a giant Bill floated in the air and gleefully stared at the wolf in his palm.

“Wow, would you look at that! I caught a Pine Tree!”

Dippers ears folded back, and he snarled weakly at the being. When Bill dropped him he was expecting it and landed as well as he could on his feet. The glowing triangle shrunk down and sat on his head with a chuckle, so Dipper jumped forward in retaliation, making the triangle hop on his head.

They moved on like this for a while, snarking back and forth, until they came across a seemingly harmless clearing. Bill froze and stayed in place when the teen kept on moving on. When he looked back, Bill waved him on.

“I have to...check on something. You go on, be a good boy.”

Rolling his eyes, Dipper continued forward. When he saw a wall pop-up around him and three shapes fall from the sky, he understood why the being stayed behind. He probably didn’t want to get his hands dirty, or some other excuse for why he hated them so much.

Dipper thought he was doing fine, up until the part when he killed the second monster, and the last one let out an unholy screech.The downed monsters popped right up again. The boy began to lose patience. Over and over and over again, they just wouldn’t die. He was starting to get tired, and the monsters were managing to hit him more often. After a particularly powerful hit to the side that knocked him into the wall he came from, he drew the line. He looked back at the path for Bill, but he was nowhere to be seen. Dipper frantically ran back-and-forth along the wall, searching for the triangle.

Finally, in a fit of desperation, he threw back his head and howled. Just as one of the monsters reached him, a flash of blue light knocked it back.

“I’d appreciate if you left my pitiful sack of meat alone.”

Bill looked back at Dipper and rolled his single eye. “You had one job. ONE job Pine Tree. Get rid of the annoying monsters, and you couldn’t even do that without my help, no wonder you need your sister so bad. Oh don’t get so fucking huffy.”

Bill sat back down on his head. “Okay, just get near them. Go on, do it.”  
Wearily the boy slinked closer to them, until they all surrounded him. Just as they were about to hit him, the being atop his head released another blue-fiery wave, instantly killing them. With a slick sound they all disintegrated.

Dipper waited for a snarky remark from Bill, but when none came he tried to look up at him.

“Calm down kid,” Bill started with a weak voice, ”I’m fine. Just don’t expect any favors for a while.”

Dipper continued on towards the spring.

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

When they reached the pool of water the triangle was at least talking again. The spirit appeared when Dipper stepped into the spring. This spirit was a ball of light, the only difference being the light was a dim, sickly color.

“ ** _P...lease...hero of the forests...save my light...only then...can I give you back...your form…_** ”

Bill scoffed in his head. " _Yeah, Pine Tree, just bring me the moon, and a dragon, and then and only then can you be human again!!!"_

‘ _Bill...why are you in my head again?_ ’

‘ _Kid, I’m still low on juice. And light spirits tend to not like me. I’m not going to bring any more attention to myself than I have to. And I’m always in your head._ ”

“ _ **T**_ _ **ake...this to...collect my light…from the beasts who...took it…**_ ”

A shimmering pile of grapes appeared in front of him, and the spirit faded. As a last parting gift, the grapes tied themselves around his neck so he hypothetically wouldn’t loose them.

Apparently Bill wasn’t lying when he said he was always in Dipper’s head because a wave of amusement poured into him.

“Pile of...HAH! Pile of grapes! Wohwee kid, you sure are stupid. And ignorant! But funny as hell, I’ll give you that.”

‘ _What’s so funny Bill?_ ’ Dipper asked sharply.

“Chill Pine Tree, chill. What that ball of light gave you is a sacred holder of ethereal magic. Not, as you so eloquently put it, a pile of grapes.” Bill’s voice seemed to sneer.

 _‘Oh,_ ’ he thought softly, ‘ _okay. I’m going to go get those magic balls now.’_

With a final look back at the spring, Dipper headed through the tunnel that lead to the weird hermit's house, Tony or something. Inside the tunnel two bugs were crawling around. They were disgusting, with swollen bellies and sharp points along their backs. They were also half the size of him and, to say the least, huge. As he stared at them one started sparking.

Thankfully the sparking only lasted a few seconds. The boy took this pause to leap at it and bite through its carapace. The bug burst into a soft golden light, and it hovered above the ground. At the urging of Bill he walked into the light and it was absorbed into the light holder. He did the same to the second.

‘ _Two down, fourteen to go._ ’

When the boy caught sight of the man’s house, Bill tapped on his forehead.  
“Hey kid, I can tell where the little buggers are. Just beg if you need me!”

Dipper shook his head and sniffed around. Around the back of the house was a strange smell, so he followed it. There wasn’t anything around, though, and it wasn’t until Bill pointed up and he shifted to his senses that he saw another bug. When he got into the sight of it, it started flying.

 _‘Great_ ,’ thought Dipper, ‘ _not only can they spark, they can fly at me as well_!’

After killing it and absorbing the light, Dipper started heading towards the cave leading to the woods until he felt a tug on his ears.

“Where are you going? There's still bugs around you incompetent pup! You don't get to leave just yet.”

Dipper snarled. ‘ _And where are they, exactly?_ ’

“The same place the cowering mortal is of course!”

The teen looked towards the shack. ‘ _So in the house?_ ’ Not waiting for an answer he started to move around it, looking for an entrance other than the door. At the side of the house was a window high up near the roof. With a questioning thought to Bill they hopped up onto it, and another step forward they were inside.

There wasn't much. A few crates, a bed, and a counter. That wasn't really surprising, considering the man who owned all of it was a hermit. Dipper made the simple shift to his senses and saw two bugs and a man. Toby was cowering in the corner, muttering about bug repellent. When the bugs started sparking warningly, the teen pounced. With the golden lights absorbed he finally went through the cave. Apparently there was nothing inside; Bill was completely silent throughout the entire cave. Near the end though, Dipper felt something was off. There was a strange...sent? Feeling?...in the air. It was cloying, like the smell of rotten fruit.

“Hey hey hey, slow down. Somethings up, and if you didn’t know that you’re dumber than I thought...oh shit.”

Oh shit was right. Where there was once a shaded forest was now a sea of sickly green fog. A dead rat lay near the start of it. Dipper walked over to the rodent.

‘ _Well, that is definitely dead. I wonder what kind of fog this is, it doesn’t look natural..._ ’ He thought.

“Pine Tree. Get away from the fog, for fucks sake. Yes the rat is dead, and unless you want to join it in the afterlife, I’d suggest you move.”

Dipper slinked away from the fog. Bill patted him on the head condescendingly. “Good Pine Tree. See, is it really that hard to listen? You should do it more often, being a meek little lamb suits you!”

Dipper growled sharply at the being, embarrassed and a tad bit angry that he had unknowingly uncovered some degrading memoried. Or knowingly, the boy really didn’t know how much Bill could see of his mind.

All throughout this, Dipper had still been backing up, and as he set his foot down something shocked him, causing him to yelp. He whirled around and started backing away from it, all-the-while shifting his senses to see two more bugs underneath piles of dirt. He completely forgot about the fog, though. When a searing pain travelled up his tail Dipper jumped forward only to land on the bug again. Bill had started laughing the second he had gotten zapped, and currently he was floating around in spirals, laughing at his dilemma. Finally, after a few minutes of Dipper cowering in a corner and the triangle getting the humor out of his system he floated over to the brown wolf.

“Oh, hehe, oh fuck kid that was hilarious! I knew you were helpless, but that really took the cake. You’re so pitiful I almost feel bad for you. Almost, but not really. Buuut now we need to wrap this up and get a move on. Still on a time limit!”

Dipper stayed silent, mortified that not only he mess up that badly, but he was in the presence of someone who didn’t care about him and relish his pain. When the menace sat between his downturned ears he slinked over to one of the piles and dug up the bug. It scurried around a bit, sparking. Dipper vengefully stomped on it when it stopped. He did the same to the other one.

“Alright, got that out of your system?” Bill asked, amused.

 _‘Yes_.’ He thought. ‘ _Now we just need to get across the horrible death fog. Great. Is it even possible_?’

Dipper shivered at the sensation of Bill taking over his body.

‘ _You forget, Pine Tree, that we don’t have to travel by normal means. Idiot_.’

With a wonky walk Bill headed over to a fallen tree. Using his magic, (‘Still cheating,’ Dipper thought) he jumped limb to limb, snapping at bats that flew around their head. He finally leaped onto a giant flat part of the tree they were on, two more bugs crawling around. Dipper tried to take over again, only to be jolted back into the partial state he went into when Bill took over.

 _‘Bill…?_ ’ He asked wearily.

‘ _Don’t worry your tiny little mind, kid. I have two reasons for doing this, because the new fad these days is to come in twos. Such a nice number, but three is better in my opinion._ ’

‘ _Bill_.’

‘ _Yeah yeah. The first reason is that I am just going to have to take over again to get off this thing, and the second reason_ …’

Bill started prowling forward, a proper predator in the wolf’s body.  
‘ _...The second reason is I really want to kill something. It’s been so long since I’ve had a proper, physical body_.’

The bugs didn’t stand a chance.

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

By the time Bill finally relinquished his hold on Dipper’s body there were only two bugs left to hunt.

‘ _Thanks Bill, I feel so useful right now.’_

“And you should Pine Tree! You helped a poor, physical-less being feel the joys of having a solid body!” Bill replied, sounding like a cat who got the canary. Which wasn’t that far off, to be honest.

They were heading towards the giant tree where Dipper saved Lee, and it seemed like it happened so long ago. The boy paused a moment, trying to calculate just how long ago it really was. It seemed like ages, but he couldn’t have been gone for too long…

“Hey, kid, get out of dreamland. You can go there later, you know, when you’re actually human again? We are also on a small, little time limit of how long I-we can be here.”

Dipper cocked his head. ‘ _That seemed different...Was Bill on a time limit because he didn’t want to be noticed? Or did he physically have a time limit of how much of this place he could take at a time? Was it a biological defect (or whatever Bill is made of) or something placed on him, a curse maybe? Did he-_ ’

“Pine Tree. What did I tell you about time limits?”

‘ _Oh shit. He sounds pissed._ ’ Dipper thought as he sprang forward. As soon as his hind legs passed the clearings edge, an angry teal wall was placed around him. Three oily dripping beasts fell from the sky. He was just about to jump forward to start taking them out when Bill exploded. Literally and figuratively, a blue wall of flames engulfing the beasts and his normal yellow coloring the same red as the walls around them.

“ _I t’nod evah yna GNIKCUF emit rof siht tihs_!” Even when the beasts and wall were gone, Bill just floated in the air, steam curling off of him. Dipper, ears back and tail between his legs, slinked forward until the triangle was above him. He looked up at him until Bill floated down, color seeping down to a dim yellow, probably from his burst of energy.

“Let’s go kid. Got some bugs kill, right? Better get your fly swatter.” Bill said, laughing weakly as he sank into the boy’s fur.

Dipper trotted carefully towards the last bugs.

 

The giant tree, roots stretching out over a seemingly bottomless pit, loomed before them. In the soft greys of the mindscape it looked intimidating, none of the golden beams of light shone through like in the regular world. Dipper walked up towards the base of the great tree. On the stump where Lee and the gnome where hostage the light of a spirit shone a bright blue, vivid against the greys of the bark. When he shifted his senses, the gnome cowered as the last of the bugs circled around him like sharks. It was almost too easy to take back the stolen light.

“They're gone!”

The voice was so sudden that Dipper jumped, and on top of his head Bill chuckled.

The gnome started talking again. “Well, that’s good...these woods sure are getting weirder and weirder nowadays. Even boss Norman is starting to go crazy! All dripping and stuff...It must be the new queen, I always thought she was weird...”

Dipper’s ears twitched. He wanted to hear more, to gain more insight on what was happening around here, but Bill was insistent on his timelimit. He whined once and then turned around towards the spirit’s spring. Behind him, the gnome continued prattling about the weird happenings of the forest to himself.

The boy startled when he felt Bill pat his head.  
“Now now Pine Tree, don’t feel down. You’ll be seeing those guys soon enough!”

His ears twitched, and he felt undecided if he should feel glad or weary. Shaking it all off he continued towards the spring. He could do more about it all once he was human again.

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

 

When he stepped into the water, the packet of light flew off of him, and colors started bleeding back into the world as the spirit came into life. Bill disappeared into the teen’s mind as the greyness received. The spirit, when it finished forming, was a cross between a gnome and an unicorn, and all Dipper could think was ‘majestic’ and ‘Mabel would love this’, but the second one gave a stab in his chest so he stopped thinking and listened to the spirit.

“ _ **Thank you, hero of the forests. My name is Lukalay, and I am the spirit of these forests. By restoring my powers, I was able to bring light into my provinces again.**_ ”

‘ _These spirits sure do like stating the obvious, am I right kid_?’

‘ _I was thinking the same thing, honestly_.’ Dipper thought back. He waited, impatiently, for the spirit to get a move on and make him human again. This whole fur business was getting annoying.

“ ** _You must be questioning why you are not a spirit like the others who resided in the partial world of the mindscape...You are the chosen one, hero of the great pines. You possess a great power, one you share with your twin-of-the-soul…_** ”

Dipper leaned forward as the spirit spoke, ears pricked forward for a number of reasons.  
‘ _Chosen one? Twin-soul, does that mean Mabel? Is Mabel like me, an animal? Or something different? And what exactly does the spirit mean, great power?_ ’

Bill was silent.

“ _ **...There is something in the forest, hero...an evil force, gnawing at my power, thriving on wretchedness. It needs to be stopped, hero of the forests. But, you will not be able to stop it with this form.**_ ”

A rush of power, a feeling akin to popping a bone back in place, and Dipper rose in height. He looked down and saw hands, actual human hands! He vaguely noticed that his clothes were different, heavier, more protection against evil intentions. Dipper looked up again as the spirit receded, a smile on its strange face. He still couldn’t get over its strange form, and as he thought it over he could feel his face smiling. Smiling, with a human face, no dog or wolf faces anywhere about him!

In the back of his mind Bill leaked over amusement at his wonder.

“Yea-” Dipper broke off, coughing. He wasn’t used to talking after being without the means for so long. “You trry to go, hhhow-eever long wi-without being in your normal foorm, and get back into it s-sude-suddenly.”

Bill’s amusement grew. But the teen (‘A real boy now,’ he thought, ‘no paws or fur in sight!’) was too happy to deal with with his condescending thoughts. Dipper started walking, a little shakily, to be honest, towards the grassy shore. His feet left the water and he immediately fell to his knees, utterly drained of energy. Black spots swarmed his vision. There was a buzzing in his head, and it took him a moment to realize it was Bill. He was...speaking, angrily, worriedly. As Dipper faded from consciousness, the triangles buzzing lulled him to sleep.

_‘-id! Pine Tree! It’s going to be f-’_

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~


	4. As Time Passes by

The familiar ceiling of his house stared at him when he woke up. A soft golden light bathed the wooden walls. Dipper’s head started spinning instantly, so he shut his eyes. Just what had he been doing last night?

‘ _Not last night, Pine Tree. That was three nights ago._ ’ A strange voice spoke up from the back of his mind. No, wait that was Bill. And that meant-

Dipper bolted up only to sink back into his bed. He had a pounding headache, and his stomach was completely hollow, making him feel dizzy. His tongue was dry, he was, for some reason soaping wet, and wasn’t wearing any pants.

“Bi-” He coughed. “Bill. What happened? All I remember is passing out. And why the fuck am I wet? How long was I asleep? Where is my shirt, and why am I back home?”

The triangle was silent for a moment. When Dipper began shifting uncomfortably in his wet clothes Bill started to speak, his tone almost sheepish.

‘ _Well, first off you're wet because human mouths are stupid, and your shirts gone because don't you flesh bags usually sleep in less clothes? Your clothes are a pain to get off, and let me tell you, laces are hard to untie, which is why you’re only wearing pants. Because clothing is ridiculous and annoying. And since you humans are prudes, I gave you pants. You’re welcome_.’

Dipper rolled his eyes. “You didn't have to do that. I sometimes do sleep in my day clothes...although those where heavier than what I usually wear.” He got up and started, carefully, moving down the ladder to get some non-wet clothes. He only managed to get to the table before he had to sit down again. “You still haven't told me why I passed out in the first place.”

Bill scoffed. ‘ _Chill kid, I'm getting to that. Uh, first though I have to tell you something about the mindscape. It doesn't deal with time...normally._ ’

The boy froze, a horrible feeling creeping up on him. His hands dug into the grain of the table. “What are you saying…?”

‘ _Pine Tree, when you first got dragged into the mindscape, you were there for two weeks._ ’

“But-”

‘ _Let me finish, kid. You were there for two weeks. To you it felt like hours, but that was only in your small mortal mind. Your body, your real one, was experiencing those weeks, and wasn’t getting any energy to keep it in top-notch condition. It was slowly dying, to be honest. In your beast form, you were fine because it only experienced three days of life. To get back on track, though, you were out of the mindscape for around 4 hours of ‘normal time’. When you went back in, another week passed even though you experienced ‘more’ time there than the last time._ ’

Dipper thought a moment, the possibilities swimming through his head.“That...how is that possible?”

‘ _As I said Pine Tree, in the mindscape, time goes differently. You could spend an hour in it and have a month go by, or a hundred years and only a day. It really fucks up your mind…_ ’ Bill trailed off. ‘ _The leprecorn spirit gave back your human body, the body that was on the brink of death. The only reason you didn’t collapse right then and there was because of my and the spirit’s influence keeping you alive. Once you left the spring, I could no longer sustain your life ‘cuz it was fully out of my reach._ ’

Dipper slumped against the chair. All the while he was dealing with the mindscape, his grunkle, all of the townspeople, they had to wait almost an entire month, wondering and grieving for their children. Not only that, but he could have died. He could have died, and Mabel would still be taken away. Stan would be all alone, thinking that both of his charges were taken away. Nobody would have realized that he was dead except for the being in his head. Dipper shuddered out a breath. “Bill...I have-I need to go back into town. I’ve been gone for almost a month! I have to tell them that I’m okay!” As he said this he struggled up, body still weak from absolutely no energy in it. He only made it a few steps before collapsing.

' _Hey, woah woah kid slow down! You’re not trying to kill yourself, are you? I mean, I don’t know much about how far you flesh bags can go without dying, but I definitely know that it would not be good for you to go off running just yet. You’ll be no use to me dead, Pine Tree, so take a day to rest, and eat. Don’t forget to eat. You can go and do whatever when you aren’t on the verge of passing out.'_

Dipper opened his mouth to argue, because how could he not? He was gone for so long, and they would all be worrying...But he knew the triangle was right. Even now, just sitting on the floor, black spots swam in his vision. The teen sighed tiredly. “Alright Bill, I’ll wait a day-only a day-to rest up, and then I’m going into town.”

 

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

Dipper lasted about an hour, which was honestly longer than he thought he would last.

' _Kid what the fuck do you think you’re doing??? I need you alive; there’s not much you can productively do with a limp sack of meat!'_

The brunette continued on the path on shaky legs. He still had aways before he would be near the town, and at the moment he was asking himself just why in the name of all that is alive did they choose to set up the shack so far? “I have to see them, Bi-” he broke off in a series of coughs, “Bill. I can rest later! And besides, if you really have a problem with it why don’t you just possess me again?”

The triangle was silent for a bit. ' _I can’t take over your body without your permission.'_

Dipper paused. “Wait...but, you-”

 _'Don’t just stand in the middle of the road! Either go back or keep on, you’re too weak to fight anything off_ _at the moment_.' Dipper continued walking forward, a little annoyed. ' _I was able to do it in the mindscape because that isn’t really your body. When you’re punted into the ‘scape, usually you meatbags don’t have the capacity to do much more than to become spirits. You, on the other hand, are much better than all of them because you have the ability to...create? No, uh...Assemble? Call forth? Eh, whatever. You’re able to have a wolf body, because you’re mind doesn’t want to become vulnerable, and actually has the capacity to use magic to make protection. But since it’s not a real body, just a really strong projection, or borrowed-flesh, I don’t really know the systematics, I can do whatever the hell I want to it.'_

Dipper chewed on his lip as he walked, thinking. “You didn’t have my permission back at the spring.”

' _You also weren’t conscious, and spirit ponds don’t...play by normal rules. Anyways, you might want to start running.'_

Right as the triangle spoke a ragged cry sounded. He looked up to see another one of the bokyboblos charging at him. (‘ _Bokoblins, you little shit._ ’ “Still don’t fucking care Bill!”) Dipper swore and dodged off the side of the trail, into the tall grasses that fenced it. Mismatched footsteps from behind him told the brunett that the monster was still following him. When the beast swung at him with a gnarly, rough club, narrowly missing him by what felt like a millimeter, Dipper yelled out. He ran as hard as he could, but he was slowly loosing speed. Black spots began dancing before his eyes yet again. He could hear a horribly gleeful laugh behind him as the monster came closer to it’s slowing prey.

 _''Kid kid let me in. Just let me in Pine Tree, or I will make the last few minutes of your life an eternity of pain_.'

“Bill! Just-huh-shut up! I’m trying to-AGH!” Dipper screamed out when the monster finally caught him on his shoulder. He curled up in a ball, protecting his soft stomach, and looked up at the beast as it raised its club again. As it swooped down onto his body something flung out and stuck into its chest.

“Don’t you dare touch my nephew, you disgusting creature!” Stan hollered out. He quickly snatched back his spear and stuck it into the monster again. And again. He would have gone a third time had Dipper not given a feeble cough. “Kid! Shi-sho-Shit! Are you okay?” At Dippers weak glare he winced. “Yeah yeah, crap question...c’mere kid, let’s get you back home…”

Bill was quite in his head as he blinked slowly. Stan was carrying him, careful of his weak arm. The man was talking, telling his nephew what had been going on in the town, but Dipper could only hear soft mumblings. He closed his eyes, and distantly thought he really needs to stop passing out.

 

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

 

This time, when Dipper woke up, it wasn’t to a grayscale world, or him being completely alone and in pain, but in a soft bed, with voices speaking softly in the distance. He tried to get up quietly, but a groan escaped his lips. The voices stopped, and footsteps came over to his bed.  
“Dipper? Are you awake darling?” A soft voice asked. Dipper wearily opened his eyes to see a familiar face, bruises under her eyes and a tired smile on her lips.

“Mrs. Valentino?” He managed.

“Ooh, hello sweety. I see you’re doing better now. Do you need anything?” She asked with concern written all over her face.

“Gru-grunkle Stan?” He managed, clearing his throat. “C...can you get-”

“Oh of course dear! Just hold on a second, he’s out on watch. It is night time, as it is…” Mrs. Valentino prattled on as she walked away. When she was gone Dipper realized how quiet it was. He carefully looked around and noticed he was set up in the Corderoy house. Again, like the last time he was in the home, he was struck at how quiet it was. The only sound was the crackling fire and his own breathing. It was unsettling, the quiet. It should have been broken by the stamping of feet, shouts and laughter, clunks and clanks echoing deep in the back. ‘I’ll get them back.’ Dipper thought. ‘Mabel isn’t the only one I’m doing this for.’

He paused a second, the silence stretching on even in his head, and realized what was wrong. Bill hadn’t tried to annoy, belittle, or even talk to him since he woke up. Where was the triangle? He called out, twice in his mind, and once aloud, but nothing answered him.

Heavy footsteps signaled Stan’s approach. His grunkle rushed in, and sighed in relief when the man saw his nephew. “Hey kid, glad to see you up and about. It also helps that you no longer look like one of those skeletons...What happened, Dipper? Did you get captured? Do you...do you know where…”

Dipper tensed his jaw. “No, I don’t know where Mabel is...I just, I just…” He paused. Should he tell Stan what happened? About Bill?  
Finally, at man’s impatient look he decided to not speak of his dilemma. He didn’t know how the older man would react to it, and Stan probably wouldn’t let him leave if he did. ‘And it’s already going to be hard enough,’ Dipper thought.

“All I remember, from before, is talking with Mabel and Wendy in the spring when these monsters...uh, I think they’re called bokoblins? Anyways, they attacked us and knocked me out. I remember waking up in a field, where I, um, I walked for a bit before getting jumped again, and that’s all I can remember…”

Stan looked at him for a while. The teen tried to not give anything away, because if anybody in this town was a master at deceit and lies, it was his grunkle. Stan either didn’t find anything wrong, or was just going to grill him about it later. Either way Dipper was relieved that he didn’t have to give the full story as Stan nodded.  
“Alright kid, whatever you say…”

The grey haired man rubbed his face with his right hand, the hand which had been broken the last time Dipper had seen it. When his grunkle caught him staring, he waved the arm. “Just got out of the cast.”

An uncomfortable silence came up. Dipper wasn’t use to such silences, always having Mabel, or his friends, or, more recently, Bill to break them. And even though he loved Stan, because the man had raised him and Mabel, he didn’t always get along with him. Stan had always looked at him funnily, and set expectations high, like Dipper was supposed to fill someone else's shoes.  
The brunet startled when Stan moved towards him and pulled him into a hug. “I’m glad you’re okay, kid, I really am.” He said gruffly. Dipper sat still for a moment before hugging back. There was a weight on his chest, and his eyes started stinging. The last time he was hugged was before this all began, by Mabel. When the tears started dripping down his face silently he spoke brokenly. “I’m sorry gr-grunkle Stan, I tried to-I tried to save her but I couldn’t, I couldn’t get to her!”

Stan patted his back. “Hey, Dipper, kid. It’s going to be okay. You couldn’t do anything in your situation, and with you back there is hope that the others are fine as well. C’mere kid…”

For a while Dipper sat with him, finally letting all of the stress and anguish he didn’t allow himself to feel before out. Stan whispered reassurances to him, and held him close. As the tears stopped Stan stood up and coughed. “Well, you just stay here and rest up. I’ll bring food later, and there’s water on the counter.”

When Stan left, and Dipper sat alone again, he decided that he would only wait seven days. Seven days, and then he would leave.

 

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

 

The week passed by slowly. There was still no sign or whisper of Bill, and Dipper was beginning to get worried as the silence from the being grew, time passing by. The triangle had been stressing the urgency of not wasting time, but the brunette did need to rest his body. He walked around the town, and helped where he could. Many of the townsfolk treated him like a child, but since their own children were gone Dipper let it slide. He was only allowed to do small, simple work like cleaning weapons and feeding the animals. The people who weren’t on guard duty were working on a wall, to barricade out the incoming monsters.

Stan seemed to be stuck between avoiding him completely or nearly suffocating him with his company. Because his sister always bridged their little family together, Stan didn’t know exactly how to treat the teen. Dipper wished for a moment that Mabel had been the one that Bill found in the mindscape, not him, before he remembered all of the horrible things that had happened, and that will happen because of his debt to the triangle.

Dipper himself was recovering from the neglectance his body took. By the fourth day he no longer needed help walking, and on the sixth he was nearly back to normal. He was itching to leave, but Stan and the others still hovered around him, refusing to let him out of their sight even when he slept.  
It was on the night of the seventh day, the entirety of it spent worrying, nerves jolting beneath his skin, that he could finally make his leave. As quietly as he could he got out of bed (his old bed; he had moved into Stan's ranch house when he no longer needed constant attention) and crept over to a desk piled with scraps of paper and charcoal, picking up a spare piece to write a letter to his grunkle.

Stan,  
I left town of my own will this time, so don’t worry about me getting captured again. I left out some details on my capture, as I was helped by a ~~being~~ ~~creature~~ man, and now I owe him. Not only am I helping him, he has agreed to help me find the others. I already have a lead on them.  
Please don’t try to go after me, Stan, this town needs you to look after them. You’re the only other person left who knows how to deal with the supernatural creatures.  
I will try to come back when I find something useful on the whereabouts of the missing.  
-Dipper

He placed the letter on his bed and hesitated. ‘Window or door, window or door…’ He thought. The window would be harder, yet there was a smaller chance of getting caught than out the door, but he still wasn’t back at complete strength. With a deep breath he headed through the house. The snores of his grunkle grumbled throughout the wooden halls. He paused at Stan’s door and raised a hand as if to knock, only to drop it and continue on. The door was locked so Dipper quietly unlocked it and went out the house. The night was cool, and the moon was almost full, pale light illuminating the scenery around him. Three torchlights shown through the darkness, giving away the positions of those guarding that night.

Dipper slowly crept along the river, staying low and out of sight of the houses. Occasionally a torchlight would creep closer to his hiding spot and he would freeze, crouching low to the ground. Soon enough he was outside of the town limits. He had to carefully slip through the growing blockade that surrounded it, not wanting to damage it to where a monster could get in. Once out he let out a breath and started to his house.

Halfway there, Dipper could hear shouting behind him. Apparently they were still checking up on him during the night. The brunette didn’t know if he should feel annoyed or warm that they were so worried about him. Either way, he did not want to be drug back into the place. He had a mission, and still needed to find out where in the world Bill was.

When the mystery shack came in view he let out a relieved huff. Quickly climbing up the ladder and rushing in through the door, Dipper began putting on what he assumed to be the rest of the clothes he was in before. He paused a second to look at them. There was a green tunic, a chainmail shirt, some leather greaves, a leather vest, a belt with several pouches, some pants the same color as the tunic, and some finely made boots. It took him a moment to put it on, trying to figure out what went where. Finally he was dressed.

The bags he and his sister had packed weeks ago still lay by the door, along with the lantern he obtained. He hesitated. Inside his backpack were books, an assortment of devices made to register ghosts, and some food. Mabel’s pack was mostly food, water pouches, a sewing kit, and a book about herbs. There was also the slingshot; she must have put it in the night before this mess.  
In the long run hers would probably be more useful. ‘And,’ he admitted to himself, ‘Mabel also made this herself, so...I can take something of hers. Just because.’

He left the shack not a moment too soon. Rapidly approaching torchlight showed that the townspeople were catching up to him. Dipper skid down the ladder, careful to not fall again, and set out on a run towards the bridge. Just as he crossed it a horrible buzzing sounded, and he felt like the air was pressing into him, trying to compress him into nothing.

_**PINE TREE.** _

Dipper felt like he was about to throw up; it was too much.

‘ _ **OH SHIT KID** woops._’ Bill said in his mind sheepishly.

“Bill?!” Dipper cried out. “What the hell?”

' _Sorry, I forgot how delicate you guys are. Again. I mean, you’d imagine that you guys would be able to handle incomprehensible languages, but I guess it’s aptly named, eh?'_

Dipper shook his head angrily. “Where were you? I haven’t heard from you for a week!”

' _I couldn’t get to you. There was a force field of some kind, blocking me. Even all of my usually places where inaccessible.'_

“How…” The teen began. “How did my town, that I have lived in all my life, who have never even seen or know of you, manage to make a force field that blocked you out?”

‘ _Weeeeeeeell, who’s to say it was made for me, kid? And besides, you shouldn’t be asking questions...you’re about to be caught._ ’

Sure enough shouting could be heard behind him, and with a curse the brunette continued on, intent on asking questions later. Soon he passed the second spring, the tunnel, and the hermit, but it was then that he had to stop. The cave to the Northern woods was once again locked shut. With a sigh he made his way to the strange, lantern-selling man.  
Toby was sitting before a fire with a putrid smelling cauldron sitting on it. When Dipper got closer to the man he jumped up. “Hey! You’re that one guy that came by last month! What can I do for you?”

Dipper winced at the man’s way of talking, still annoyed at how halting he spoke. But, he did need the key, and this man seemed to be the...gatekeeper. “Could you give me the key to the cave again? I need to get back there…”

“You sure about that? There’s some nasty business going on down there. But, if you’re sure…”A dull silver key, the same one as last time, was handed over. Dipper placed it in one of his new pouches. Toby seemed to be waiting for something, and with a jolt the teen remembered that he needed to stock up his lantern. Quickly he pulled it out.

“Oh, you need a refill, hmm? Okay, that’ll be ten rupees.”

The jewels were handed over, and the teen’s lantern was filled up. Dipper thanked the man and went over to the cave to unlock the gate. The few rats and feral bats were easy to take care of, and by no time he was left staring into the sickly green fog covering the forest. It was even more putrid in the solid world. He walked to the edge. Sure enough, the rat was still there. Or what was left of it. Now, the large rodent was nothing more than a stinking pile of bones.

‘ _I won’t be able to help you here, kid. Two legs, especially human legs, are harder to control and get power behind them than four beast legs._ ’

“Yeah, I kind of figured that Bill.” Dipper replied, still looking for a way across. While there was light, not much of it got through the heavy canopy, and the fog didn’t help much. Without a second thought he got out his lantern. Ignoring Bill’s reprimands he moved closer to the fog, trying to get a closer look at it.

“Shmebulock!” A voice cried behind him, and suddenly his lantern was ripped from his grip as the gnome, from however long ago, grabbed it in hand, stuck it on a stick, and hopped into the fog. Dipper cried out in anger, and reached out pitifully, but he was too late. The gnome was gone.

‘ _What the hell Pine Tree? Don’t just lay down and take it!_ ’

“What am I supposed to do you stupid chip?! It’s gon-” Dipper cut himself off when a glow came up in the fog. It was swirling around in a circle, slow at first but gaining speed. Soon the green fog crept away from it, seemingly repelled by the light. When it was completely cleared away Dipper could see the gnome spinning his lantern above his head. The little guy looked at him in the eye and gestured for him to follow. “Shmebulock!” he called out.

The boy stared at it for a bit before starting forward at the insistence of Bill. ‘ _Don’t just stand there idiot, follow the pest! And when we get across, you can kill him!'_  He said gleefully.

Dipper made a face as he walked, careful to not brush up against green tendrils of fog. “Bill-” He stopped and looked down at the gnome, who waved at him with his free hand. ‘ _I’m not going to kill him, he’s helping me! You have problems_.’

_‘Of course I do, that’s not the point. This pest stoll-watch out for that plant, yep see, just cut off it’s head, good boy- your lantern. So. Kill it!’_

_‘I’m not killing the gnome_.’

After a few minutes of the gnome waving the lantern, cowering behind him as a monster appeared in view, and him killing said monster, they finally made it to the other side. With a final ‘Shmebulock’, the gnome dropped the lantern and ran off. Dipper rolled his eyes and picked it up, inspecting it for damage. It seemed fine, although he was out of oil.

‘ _You should have killed him when you had a chaaa~aance.’_ Bill said with a sing-song voice. The teen ignored the triangle the best he could and went through the second cave, relieved that the gate was open, and he didn’t have to find this key as well. When he got into the open space with the giant trees, a cawing drew his eyes to the booth manned by the talking bird. It seemed to be calling him over.

“Hi there! Buy something, hey!” The colorful blue bird squawked at him.

“Uh…” He looked down at the small caldrons of liquid. One of them he recognized as lantern oil, and the other one was red, which he assumed to be some kind of healing potion. “How much is the...oil?”  
The bird flapped its wings. “Thirty rupees! No refund!”  
Dipper made a face. That seemed a little...expensive for a few minutes worth of oil. “I don’t know, that’s a little too expensive....”

“Hey, we all gotta make a living somehow! You buying or not?” Once again the bird sharply reminded him of Stan.

“Hmm… I think I’m going to pa-”  
‘ _Kid._ ’  
“What? Oh, okay, I guess I’ll take it.” Dipper reached into his money pouch. Only a few measly green rupees were left after he got the amount he needed.  
“Alright, thanks I gue-”  
_‘Kid._ ’  
“Bill calm down I got it, see?” He ignored the strange look he was getting from the bird. With his lantern filled up he started walking forward, looking back at the bird one last time. “Wow, isn’t that so weird? I wonder how he gets all of the potions-”  
‘ _Pine Tree!_ ’  
“What Bill? I thought-”Dipper grit out as he whirled around, only to stop and stare at the grey wolf sitting in the middle of his path.

‘ _Don’t go near it...I don’t like it._ ’ Bill said from what seemed like the back of his mind. Dipper started walking forward.  
‘ _Pine Tree, what the fuck I just said-_ ’

“I know Bill, but it’s not attacking me so I think I’m fine. I mean, a wild animal would already have-OH SHIT!” He yelled as it leaped at him. Just as it touched him the world blazed with an old gold-like flare.

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~

This time it seemed like he only closed his eyes, and suddenly he was freezing, snow pillowing his body. He got up slowly, intent on finding any dangers in the area. All he could see was blinding white, like he was in a snowstorm. Suddenly all of the wind blew in his face, and in the blink of an eye the world around his was clear. The grey wolf sat, panting, in front of him. Just as he drew his blade it stood and howled. A flash of gold and a man stood before him.

The man was tall, and had a trenchcoat and a scarf and goggles covering his face. He peered at Dipper silently, and when the teen brandished his blade at the figure he laughed.

“Don’t worry, little one, I’m not here to hurt you. I’ve been trying-”What seemed like static noise cut through his speech, but he continued speaking”-track you down for weeks now ever since I picked up on your energy. I won’t be able to talk to you for long, so I’ll have to make this message as short as possible: Don’t move from where you are. I need to be able to talk to -” Again the static cut through:cchhhhhhkch”-person. Damn it, there’s-”Scchhhhk”-ference, I need more-”ccccchhhshhhchhk”-ll, Get away from him!”

The man’s figure began flickering in and out of view. Suddenly he stormed closer to Dipper and grabbed his shoulders. “Trust-”Schhhhchk”-o one! Do you unders-”Chhhhchshhchhk”-ust no one!”

With a final flicker the snowy realm melted from view, and when Dipper  
Opened his eyes again he saw the forest canopy above him. He stood up.  
“Bill…?” He asked warily.  
‘ _Yes, Pine Tree?_ ’ The triangle asked, no emotion present in his voice.  
“What was that...Who-”  
‘ _That’s not important right now, Kid. You still have a temple to break into._ ’

The teen nodded. “Okay, fine. I’ll get what you need, but after that you’re going to answer some of my questions, you hear me?”

Bill was silent. ‘ _...Is that a deal, kid_?’  
Dipper clenched his fist and weighed his options. He had already agreed to help the being, and now he was going to answer to him after he fulfilled his end, on top of saving his friends. Finally he nodded again. “Yes, I accept.”

Bill’s amusement and satisfaction echoed throughout his head as blue fire raced up his left arm, his dominant side. Dipper let out a yelp, and then the flames were gone. On his palm was a vibrant blue triangle, much like the being’s body, that slowly faded into a thin, wispy silver. ‘ _Now get a move on, Pine Tree. Time’s-a-wastin!_ ’

He shook off the pain lingering in his hand before heading up the massive root of the tree. The same stone stood impassively in front of a hole in the tree’s base that seemed like it was ripped open. Dipper stood at the beginning and looked into the darkness. And then he walked in, the shadows swallowing him whole.

~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~{-}~


End file.
